Drought may force Aquatic Park to be drained

If you want to see Paradise Aquatic Park with water and wildlife in it this summer, now may be the time. On May 27, the Paradise Park and Recreation District received notice from the State Water Board that its right to divert water from Berry Canyon Creek into the Aquatic Park, had been revoked due to drought conditions.

The PRPD was one of many post-1914 appropriative water rights holders who were told in late May that their "rights within the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds of the need to immediately stop diverting under their post-1914 water rights ... ."

PRPD Manager Mike Trinca appealed the decision in an e-mail to the board on June 10 warning that "to stop this diversion to the fishing pond would become a health hazard very quickly."

In his e-mail, Trinca told the board the district diverts 0.2 cubic feet per second from the creek to supply water to a the fish pond and "then the water is directly returned back into Berry Canyon Creek approximately sixty feet downstream from the diversion."

Trinca said that nothing is added to the water and "there is very little if any loss of water before it is returned to the creek."

But his pleas weren't enough.

Matthew Quint, an engineer for water board, told Trinca in an email on June 11 that the diversion must end, though water "stored prior to receiving the curtailment notice may stay in the pond."

PRPD must wait from word from the state before its to resume diverting water again.

Trinca said since then the diversion from Berry Canyon Creek have been stopped.

In its letter, the state board told the PRPD that the water is necessary to meet senior water right holders' needs downstream.

While the water diverted from Berry Canyon Creek does flow back into it, Trinca said that DWR told him it's not enough. Because evaporation and leakage, PRPD is likely sending back less water than it is diverting.

Since the diversion into the pond has stopped, the pond's level is "down like an inch," according to Trinca. He pointed out that with inflow down from the creek so has been the outflow. However, the pond is getting water from a natural spring that runs into it from groundwater that overflows into the pond.

But the level the pond is at now, is the level one might find it in August when creek water is diverted into the pond, Trinca said.

Without the diversion, Trinca said, the pond is about two months ahead of schedule, which means the district is now planning what to do as the levels falls.

Trinca said on Monday that the when the pond loses another 18 inches, "we start having potential troubles" that pertain to the health for the kids and wildlife.

"It starts to get real shallow and the kids start getting into the muck at the bottom," he said "It gets real nasty and we don't want to get the kids into that."

Trinca does have an option once they get to that point of having to decide whether to drain the pond.

"We have a well that we could pump water into, it's not treated well water," he said. "But I imagine Fish and Game and DWR would have to allow that given that it is groundwater." Trinca also said that PID water can not use to fill the pond because it is treated.

If the well water option is not viable that's when the district may have to drain the pond to avoid health hazards for the kids. However, other concern is for the wildlife in the pond.

Trinca said at the point where they see the water flow stop, they will then contact Fish and Game to see what to do about the wildlife in and around the pond.

The pond is home to bass and blue gill fish as well as some turtles. Trinca said that moving the fish should be easy. They had to do it "five or six years ago" when the fish were moved by a water tank into a neighbor's pond.

The fish are planted and it shouldn't be a problem. What Trinca said is different this time around, are the turtles.

It's just been in the last four years that the turtles began showing up and there are some baby turtles in the pond.

"I don't know what that may do," he said. "Fish and Game may say they can't be moved. Or may be as simple as to catch and relocate them."

If the district has to drain the pond, it will afford them the opportunity to clean up the pond and do some repairs. Trinca says they weren't planning on fixing it up for another four to five years.

The pond is pretty healthy, according to Trinca, but said the "little island need some work."

He said muskrats have done damage to plat life and islands. And draining the pond would allow the district to get a tractor in there "and clean it and make it new again."

Trinca noted that the islands act as sort of a sanctuary for the turtles, others wise the kids might get to them.